Valencia-July 2 & 3, 2012

We have spent the last couple days hanging around Valencia.  The boys slept late after a late night celebrating Spain's EuroCup win and we went to the beach in the afternoon.  It was not too far by a bus not far from the apartment.  Today, the boys and I went to climb the tower at the cathedral.  The boys decided they need some ice  cream first, so we stopped at Linares, a great ice cream shop right in front of the cathedral.  My camera battery did not charge correctly, so I do not have a picture of their adorable faces eating their double scoops.  We climbed the tower without too much trouble.  The American woman in front of us decided that she could not make it to the top because she became really nervous as the spiral staircase got smaller and smaller.  Her son came to her rescue and we all made it to the top in one piece.  The views were beautiful and I was so disappointed about my camera. It was a good workout that resulted in fabulous views of Valencia.  It was a clear day and we could even see the ocean, which is amazing considering we were in the older part of the city (away from the water). We came down eventually and headed home by way of Andrew's school.  Perfect timing!  We was just leaving and we met up at the perfect place.  Since the boys continue to want to do their "Top Chef" competitions, we went to the mercado by our house for supplies.  The boys picked a bunch of vegetables and ham.  I was just an observer this round since I do not eat ham(although I have been told that this is the best ham in the world!), but it was cute to see them working so hard on their dishes.  Tommy made a sandwich with Spanish ham and cheese, but added bell pepper for some crunch.  Robbie made a plate of peaches and ham with a cup of cold tomato soup (salmorejo) that Andrew had made.  Andrew makes a great salmorejo and I love his version.  We headed out to buy train tickets for the end of our trip and ended up walking around the city for a couple hours! No luck with the tickets, but we had fun looking in shops, etc.  We went straight to dinner looking a little shabby.  Drew was out with some of mutual friends near our place and they stopped by for a late night chat.  What started out as a lazy day, ended up being very busy and fun!